1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is generally directed to vehicle safety seats for children, and more particularly to a car seat with a storage receptacle for the car seat's instruction manual, an attachment between a stationary support base and a reclineable seat shell, a safety strap retainer and belt path arrangement, and/or a user friendly recline grip arrangement.
2. Description of Related Art
Safety seat assemblies or car seats are known in the art for use in seating children in vehicles. Nearly all car seats come with an instruction manual that explains how to install the product, secure it in the vehicle, and operate it once installed. Many, but not all, of the known car seats provide a means to retain the manual on some part of the structure. When stored on the seat, it is preferred that the manual be stored in a place that does not result in the manual becoming ejected during a crash. As a result, in most instances the location for storing the instruction manual is positioned on the car seat in a place that is not accessible to the user after the car seat has been installed. For example, many car seats provide a storage location on the back side of the seat or its support base. These types of seats often employ a hook or a shut-off to create an attachment location for a tethered, flexible, plastic sleeve or pocket containing the manual.
The instruction manual in these types of seats can only be put back in place for proper storage while the seat is not installed. This produces a couple of different problems, each occurring because the owner typically reads or should read the manual while installing the car seat in their vehicle. In one instance, the manual might not be put back in place for proper storage after the product is installed, resulting in the manual becoming lost or misplaced. Alternatively, the owner will either read the manual and then properly store it, but only before installing the seat assembly, or will install the care seat, uninstall it, put the manual in its proper place, and then reinstall the car seat. This can result in the car seat not being properly installed or reinstalled because the manual could not be referenced during actual product installation.
In another example, a few manufacturers provide a thin film plastic sheet or pocket on a bottom part of the seat assembly that is somewhat accessible after the car seat is installed. Thus, an owner can read the instructions while installing the seat assembly in their vehicle and then properly store the manual. After installation, the manual can then be inserted and stored in the pocket or under the plastic sheet. However, the instruction manual can be very difficult to remove once it is within a thin plastic pocket or sandwiched between a thin plastic sheet and a surface of the car seat. Also, the plastic film pocket or sheet are typically pretty flimsy and can easily become damaged and torn over time and after several uses. This can result in the manual falling out of the storage receptacle and becoming lost, or in the storage receptacle no longer being of use for storing the manual.
Many types of car seats for toddlers are now required to have a separate safety belt strap or belt known in the art as Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children or LATCH belts. Such LATCH belts, if required, must be provided on the car seat and must be attached to seat anchors in the vehicle. The National Highway and Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) has issued a number of motor vehicle standards including Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 225 defining the requirements for such LATCH belts. The LATCH belt must be “permanently” attached to the car seat structure within the meaning of FMVSS 225. In other words, the LATCH belt must remain attached to the seat either without the use of a tool to remove it or upon application of a force less than 45 lbs. applied to the attachment point.
A typical LATCH belt is thus either affixed at a mid-point by a Christmas tree-type fastener directly to the seat structure, or is couple to a tether that is affixed to the seat structure. The first arrangement results in two separately adjustable belt parts extending from the attachment point. The second arrangement results in a LATCH belt loosely tethered to the car seat but not held in place in its proper belt path on the structure. For the direct attachment arrangement, in order to meet the government standard, these types of belts have an adjustment buckle or device on each of the belt parts in order to permit adjusting both ends of the LATCH belt. A user must then properly adjust each belt part separately when installing the product. Additionally, a seat manufacturer must provide and assemble two discrete length adjusters on the LATCH belt. For the tethered attachment arrangement, the user must properly position the LATCH belt on the seat product before installation.
Car seats are also known to have a seat part that can be adjustably reclined between different selectable recline angles. Most of these types of car seats employ a seat support base and a separate shell that defines the seat back and seat bottom seating surfaces for the occupant. The seat angle, i.e., seat recline angle, between the shell and support base in such a car seat can be adjusted by moving the shell relative to the base. In a typical adjustable car seat, the upper part of the base has laterally opposed slots that are oriented generally vertically. The upper seat back of the shell typically has a horizontal metal bar or rod carried on its back side and that is received through these slots. As the seat shell recline is adjusted, the rod remains captured in the slots but is free to slide up and down to permit seat shell movement. Some cars seats might employ a reverse construction putting the rod on the support base and the slots on the back of the seat shell. In any case, the ends of the rod are typically cosmetically capped or closed off within plastic material to loosely hold the rod in position. During a relatively high crash pulse, the rod can bend causing the rod ends to retreat or slip out of the part of the seat in which they are retained or to separate from their plastic end caps. This can result in separation between the seat shell and the support base. This typical construction meets existing NHTSA standards set forth in FMVSS 213.
Most car seats for toddlers employ a reclining feature of some type so that the child can rest more comfortably for sitting or sleeping in the vehicle. The recline feature functions in combination with the seat's harness system, when properly adjusted, to safely hold the child in the seat at all permissible recline angles. A typical car seat with the seat reclining feature has a recline lever near or below a front edge of the seat. The lever has a handle that is depressed or gripped to release or detach a latch mechanism. The parent must typically depress the handle of the lever and then slide the seat to the desired angle while holding the lever in the depressed position until reaching the desired seat angle.
A number of problems exist with the typical reclining car seat. First, the lever is typically beneath the front edge so that the occupant cannot accidentally kick it and release the latch mechanism. Second, the lever is biased to the latched position with a fairly hearty spring or other biasing element. The user must firmly grasp and then hold the handle of the lever in the depressed position. This alone is generally not easy to do because of the biasing force and the position of the handle. Second, the weight of the seat and the child, along with the smooth, hard surface of the conventional plastic lever handle, combine to require a substantial force to keep the lever in the depressed position. The smooth handle does not typically provide much in the form of gripping characteristics. Thus, a parent must apply a significant hand force to keep the lever firmly depressed and within their grasp while adjusting the seat recline. A parent often is seated in the front seat of the vehicle while trying to adjust the seat recline angle, which can make the task even more difficult. Some manufacturers have tried to overcome this deficiency by adding a plastic ledge or rib to the levers in order to add “bite” into a parent's fingers. This solution is not comfortable for the parent, as the grip improvement is achieved by the rib digging into the parent's skin.
Most car seats for toddlers have a harness system as part of the seat. The harness system tension is adjustable to safely and properly secure a toddler in the seat. Most of these types of car seats are adjusted by pulling on a tension strap that extends from a front edge part of the seat between the child's legs. The strap is part of the harness system and is typically fed through an A-lock tensioning device. This type of harness adjustment system is common in toddler seats and is also offered on many products with reclining seats as described above. A problem sometimes occurs when the parent grabs the recline lever handle. The parent often will put their thumb or palm directly on the forward edge of the seat to gain leverage for depressing and holding the handle while adjusting the seat angle. The point at which their thumb or palm falls is often directly on the button or actuator of the A-lock tensioning device that in turn releases the tension strap of the harness. Inadvertent actuation of the A-lock can result in the harness becoming loosened and improperly fitted to the child, and can easily go unnoticed by the parent.
Whether the tensioner or A-lock position is a problem or not, the front edge of the car seat simply does not offer an ergonomically suited, leverage-enhancing resting place for the parent's thumb or palm when adjusting the seat recline. A typical seat construction has a smooth radius, gradually rounded front edge so that a child occupant's legs will be comfortable when extending over the front edge of the seat. This surface profile does not provide an adequately placed, ergonomic, leverage-enhancing surface for a parent's thumb or palm. If the A-lock for the harness system is present, the most comfortable and/or leverage enhancing position for the parent's thumb is often against some part of the A-lock or its surrounding structure. Even this location and surface is typically not adequately placed to provide a comfortable hand position while adjusting the seat shell recline angle. However, the tension in the harness can be inadvertently affected.